Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1889

Curator: Here we have Eduard Karsen's "Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken," possibly from 1889, an ink and pen drawing on what looks like… well, a briefkaart, or postcard! Editor: The sheer mundanity of it is lovely. Like capturing a little historical breath. It feels incredibly personal, almost intrusive, peering at someone’s old mail. What draws you to it? Curator: Partly, it's that collision of the grand and the minute. Karsen, associated with the Dutch Golden Age revival, using such a transient, ephemeral form. The calligraphy, too. The address is rendered with such care. It elevates the everyday. Editor: Yes, there's a tenderness there. The handwritten address is so elegant. A stark contrast with the very mechanical "BRIEFKAART" printed at the top. It evokes the shift from individual to industrial, person to post. Stamps, official seals… a whole language. Curator: And those seals tell a story. The postal marks are not just decorative. They're little glyphs of their time, indicating the card's journey, authenticating it. See the postmark, 1889! Little anchors to the past. And the faint stamp...a crown? Power distilled into an image. Editor: Crowns and meticulous addresses against casual penmanship – "Den Haag" scrawled at the bottom feels so relaxed after the formal address. It's almost a conversation on paper between formality and intimacy. It invites a daydream of a particular time, and the value of communication before it could appear as quickly as our digital present enables. What did this card say, and did its recipient cherish its brief news? Curator: That's the question isn't it? This little fragment hinting at a larger exchange, lives intertwined through the simple act of sending a card. Makes you wonder who we'll be sending "briefkaarts" to in the future. Editor: And how those messages will be interpreted –if indeed, people of the future cherish material documents when so much has shifted to the intangible. I find this little piece quite affecting.